ROCKFORD — When he was a kid in Rockford, Eric Sorenson would watch Eric Nefstead’s weather forecasts on WREX.

When Sorenson, now chief meteorologist at the station, finally met Nefstead, Sorenson told Nefstead that he was his inspiration. Nefstead’s reply, Sorenson said: “I’m not that friggin’ old.” That was 10 years ago.

Nefstead died Saturday at home in Winnebago after battling cancer. He was 70.

Candice King, chief meteorologist at WTVO where Nefstead had most recently worked primarily on weekends, said Nefstead was right on with his forecasting. And that was the case even though he and the most up-to-date weather-predicting systems weren’t the best of friends.

“He’d look at the satellite and say, ‘The snow will end in 45 minutes to an hour,’ ” she said. “And sure enough, within 45 minutes to an hour, it did.”

King said that in addition to weather forecasts, Nefstead was known for his “Eric’s Garden” segment.

The 1-minute-or-so segment was prerecorded and showed Nefstead with his latest vegetables from a garden he tended outside the WTVO studio. He grew tomatoes, potatoes, asparagus and cabbage, to name a few, King said.

“He’d give ‘Tomato Tips’ ” to viewers, she said. He also grew daffodils and lilies in the garden.